Thursday, November 12, 2015

Huffington Post likes double standards just fine when they hurt presumptively innocent men, not when they favor them

I get the distinct impression The Huffington Post hates the proposed Safe Campus Act, don't you? You know, too much of that fairness crap for the presumptively innocent.

A writer for that outlet named Tyler Kingkade wrote this:

. . . the Safe Campus Act . . . would restrict colleges from punishing students for sexual assault unless the police are also involved. Other illegal behaviors -- such as theft or physical assault -- would not be held to this requirement.

But then later in the same article, Mr. Kingkade wrote this:

Along with the requirement to notify police before schools can investigate sexual assaults, the bill would allow schools to use whatever standard of evidence they choose in campus adjudications. Currently, when a college holds a hearing to determine if a student accused of sexual assault violated the code of conduct, it's obligated by the U.S. Department of Education to use the "preponderance of evidence" standard. Under this standard, an adjudicator must be 51 percent or more certain the accused is guilty, making it more likely that the student will be found in violation.

Hmm. There's something wrong here . . . . Mr. Kingkade seemed eager to point out a double standard in the first item--but when he wrote the second item, he forgot to mention a far more egregious double standard. Let me do it for you, Mr. Kingkade, using your own words: "Other illegal behaviors -- such as theft or physical assault -- are not held to this [preponderance of the evidence] requirement."

There. Fixed it for you, Mr. Kingkade. I am sure you want to be accurate when reporting on this issue, right?

The fact is, the sexual grievance industry and its extremist media enablers have insisted that alleged sexual assault on campus should be held to entirely different--and far more stringent--legal standards than any other offense, as this blog has reported in probably hundreds of posts over the years. It's perfectly okay with them when they this works to the disadvantage of the presumptively innocent.

It is true that the Safe Campus Act does not compel victims of other serious criminality to report to police before a college will investigate those offenses internally--but that's because serious criminality except for rape is always reported to police, and we don't need a law to force people to do what they already do. But the sexual grievance industry and its extremist media enablers have encouraged women not to report rape to police by repeatedly telling them that they can't justice in the justice system. That's why we need to include the requirement in the Safe Campus Act.